"If the only prayer you ever said was 'Thank you', it would be enough."
- Thich Nhat Hanh   

It is Thanksgiving here in the United States. Traditionally on this day family and friends gather together to break bread, enjoy each other’s company and be grateful for all they have.

Think for a moment about how you feel with all of your family around you, whether that number is large or small. That moment when you look over at your loved ones and your heart feels full. Bring that feeling into your daily life. Take a moment or two each day to feel that love in your heart…feels really good doesn’t it?

Love and gratitude are two of the most amazing forces in the world. Allowing ourselves to feel these two emotions can truly change our life. Each of us has so many things to be grateful for, all of the little everyday miracles that we so often take for granted. I have learned to even be thankful for the unpleasant events or circumstances that present themselves in my life, I know there is a lesson for me in there that I would not learn otherwise and I know I will emerge stronger from the challenge.

There are also so many things to love in our lives, people, circumstances, opportunities. Often, we don’t consciously recognize the good occurring in our lives; we are looking at the thing that went wrong. Practicing love, unconditional love, can change that around. Remember, we attract at the level of our predominate thoughts and feelings. When we offer the feeling of love to others guess what is coming our way? Try sending loving thoughts to a difficult person in your experience and to those less fortunate than yourself. You will see more love beginning to manifest in your life.

Enjoy your family and friends today…then take those feelings of love and thankfulness with you into the next day and the next. That in itself is a prayer and it is enough.

Be well and blessed,

There are times in life when things unpleasant and unexpected arise. It could be a sudden illness or accident, the loss of a job or loved one, any kind of life-as-we-know-it altering event.

I speak a lot about accepting or embracing change versus fighting it. Generally fighting change does no good except to intensify and prolong the agony. Change is change, and will not be denied. Yet also undeniable is the effect on our lives as well as the pain and stress these events often bring. So, how do we cope?
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As I progress on this particular life journey, I am discovering how wonderful life is once I let go. Let go of control, let go of blame, let go of attachment. It seems the more I let go, the more good flows to me. Are your holding yourself back by attaching strings to everything? We often have rules in place for how we are willing to be: what part we are willing to play in relationship, in our work life and life in general. << MORE >>

Are you living in the flow of life? Maybe you’ve heard the saying “I’m just going with the flow.” Often when people use this saying, they are indicating that others are in control of whatever the situation is and they have chosen not to fight it. << MORE >>

What drives you? Have you taken a look at what your real, deep intentions are for your life? Uncover your deep, driving desire. Nourish your connection to Spirit. Take inspired action. Watch your life begin to transform<< MORE >>

I have received a lot of emails and comments asking about the emotional scale that I mentioned. Although many people have incorporated the use of an emotional scale in their work, the one that I think shows the greatest detail is presented by Abraham in the book “Ask and it is Given” by Esther and Jerry Hicks. It is an excellent book to have in your library. I have included the scale here<< MORE >>

In my last entry, I said “Do the work, change your thoughts, change your life.” I’m sure some of you read that and thought – if only it was that easy. I want to tell you that although it may not be easy, it really is that simple.

We attract that which we are – our thoughts create our reality. Our thoughts show us our perception of the world and our expectations of others. The world or more precisely our own personal experience of the world, shows up to exactly match our ... << MORE >>

“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are” – James Allen. Not seeing the results you want? What stories are you telling yourself? Do the work, change your thoughts, and change your life! << MORE >>

This past week has been particularly challenging for me. Have you ever had one of those weeks? It seems like you are treading water, staying afloat, but not making progress. I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of renewing oneself, yet it was a lot of effort finding the time!

What do you do to renew? For me, it depends on how much time I can squeeze out. I love to spa at nice places where you can just relax and hang out. Of course, that doesn’t happen everyday. I also use meditation, a night out, and silence ...

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Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing,
there is a field. I will meet you there. - Jalaluddin Rumi

The majority of people were raised with some societal ideas of what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not. These convictions are subjective – they belong to each individual person and can be different for each person. Yet we often judge the actions of others, and ourselves by how the action measures up against these convictions.

Here’s a thought: what would your life be like if you let go of judgment and blame? It is not an easy thing to do, most of us judge and blame sort of on auto-pilot – without conscious thought, zoom! We go right there!

The thing is, we never have all the facts and we can never really know what is in someone else’s mind. Most importantly, we are applying our construct of right and wrong to someone else that may or not share our view. When we find someone’s actions lacking or when something goes awry in life it is very easy to judge the action/occurrence as wrong and to blame someone for it. Judgment and blame usually bring on feelings of anger and resentment. What does that do to/for you? How does that serve you? Does it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Probably not!

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha said “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” Letting go of judgment and blame of others releases us from the cycle of anger and resentment. It detaches our state of mind from control by another’s actions. It frees us to choose our own state of mind. What state will you choose?

Make a conscious effort not to pass judgment on anyone/anything for one day. I’d love to hear your experiences.